Chapter Text
It was a yawn that punctuated Haileys arrival through the doors of Kings Cross Station, on the first of December. Hailey fought for a moment to hold back the wave of drowsiness that accompanied it before gathering herself and continuing on into the station, pulling along her modified school trunk, one that her sister, Rachelle, had installed wagon wheels and a pull handle on.
Her mother, who had been leading while carrying Hedwig's cage, gave her a questioning look. “You doing alright there?”
“Yeah, just a little drowsy.” Hailey replied, rubbing one of her eyes, “Probably stayed up later than I should have.”
“That party probably shouldn’t have run as late as it did.” Tewi agreed, her expression relaxing slightly. “Everyone was just having so much fun…”
Last night, to celebrate Hailey’s imminent departure and education, a party had been thrown, as you’d expect from the Inaba. And, as you’d expect, the party immediately got out of hand, and went on well into the night. Understandably, Hailey was a little sleep-deprived.
Nevertheless, that didn’t stop the pair from arriving, roughly on time, once more donning their movie star disguises in the mundane train station.
“Will you be alright getting on the train?” Tewi asked.
“It's cool.” Hailey assured her. “I’ve had more late nights than I can count, and I can always get some rest on the train.”
“Attagirl.” The Inaba patted her daughter’s head before checking the ticket again. “So Dumbledore said the platform was in the divider between nine and ten, right?”
“Yup.”
“Then let's not dally.”
Arriving at the divider, they stared at the solid wall critically for a moment, before Tewi experimentally tried sticking her hand, which passed without issue, then thrusting her head through. It took but a moment before she pulled back to beckon Hailey through. “Come on, it's easy enough.”
Tewi stepped to one side, letting Hailey, pulling her trunk behind her, go first. She disappeared through the seemingly solid wall, with Tewi stepping in behind her.
“First time you two?” Asked a man in a snappy uniform on the other side. “Just so you know, we prefer people to come through quickly, people are less likely to notice people walking through a wall that way.”
“Sorry, we’ll keep that in mind.” Tewi replied with her usual attitude that sounded more like she only pretended to be apologetic than actually being it before walking past and through to the platform.
“Enjoy your year, you two.” The guard said.
Through the arch was an entire platform filled to the brim with Witches and Wizards all milling about, chatting to one another or ushering their children onto a brilliant red steam engine, embossed with gleaming gold letters, proudly declaring itself ‘The Hogwarts Express’.
After taking a moment to appreciate the lovely looking steam engine, they quickly started cutting through the crowd, not wanting to miss their chance to board and find some good seats, due to gawking.
With nobody on the platform sparing the incognito rabbits a second glance, they slipped on to the train with minimal effort.
Quickly finding an empty compartment, they heaved Hailey’s heavy trunk into the Luggage rack, before they both took a moment to sit and take a breather before Tewi had to vacate the train.
“So Hailey, this is it. How are you feeling, excited?” Tewi asked, patting her daughter on the head as Hailey leaned on her shoulder.
“Tired.” Hailey’s reply did not surprise the old rabbit. “But excited too.”
“Any second thoughts?” Tewi already knew the answer, but she still felt the need to question her daughter one last time.
“Nah,” Hailey took a moment to nuzzle into her mother’s side. “Que sera sera. Whatever happens, happens. I’m ready to take it in my stride.”
Tewi nodded. “Well, no matter what, I know you’ll be great, so just have fun, and do your best.” As an afterthought she added. “Oh and be sure to come back with enough anecdotes, you know how everyone is. They’ll be chomping at the bit to hear how much trouble you got up to at magic school.”
Hailey giggled. “Yes Ma’am!”
They sat there in companionable silence for a moment, before an announcement let everyone know that the train would soon be departing.
Tewi got up, and gave her daughter a hug. “See you over the Holidays kiddo.”
“If not sooner.” Hailey giggled, returning the embrace.
“Of course.” Tewi chuckled, breaking the hug to pinch her cheek. “Feel free to run home to mommy whenever you like.”
And with that, Tewi disembarked, but still stood on the platform to wave, as the train slowly pulled out of the station, standing near the front so as not to be eclipsed by the much taller people surrounding her. Hailey of course leaning out the window to wave back, alongside many other students.
As mother and daughter waved to one another, and as the train pulled further and further away, Tewi decided that now was the best time to get a little mischief in for herself, before the rabbits out of the hat.
“Have a good year Hailey, I love you!” she called at the top of her lungs, startling several people around her.
With a barely audible laugh, Hailey called back just as loudly. “Love you too Mama!”
And like that, the train pulled out of sight.
‘Knock em dead, kid.’ Tewi thought proudly.
She then turned to see the crowd of wizards staring at her, and she could already hear murmurs.
“Did she say Hailey?”
“As in Hailey Potter.”
“She’s her mother?”
“Can’t be, Lilly’s dead.”
“...You do know orphans can have adoptive mothers right?”
This was just what Tewi was hoping for, and pulled off the coup de grâce.
“Whoo, being a parent is hard work, huh?~” she said, pulling off her bonnet to wipe her forehead with it, revealing her ears to all.
There was a moment of stunned silence, before Tewi said cheekily “See you all next year~”
She then shifted into a rabbit, and leaped off the platform and raced down the tracks, laughing all the way, as the crowd of wizards broke out into confused conjecture and uproar.
‘That will give them something to think about.’ Tewi thought smugly, as she hared out of the tunnel and into the British countryside. ‘Now, where the hell am I?’
Meanwhile, on the train, Hailey was preparing to get up to her own mischief.
“So, Hedwig, up for magic school?” she spoke conversationally, as she rummaged through her trunk.
Hedwig, her owl, hooted dismissively.
“Right, probably won’t be too much different from you.” Hailey conceded. “But I myself have a pretty good feeling about this year.”
She then pulled out a large pet carrier out of her trunk.
“Oh yeah.” She said with a grin. “I’m gonna have a lot of fun.~”
A short time later…
Ron Weasley, second youngest of the extensive Weasley family, was looking for somewhere to sit as far away from His twin brothers, or more importantly their friend Lee Jordan’s pet tarantula. He opened a compartment door, to find it surprisingly empty.
Now clearly someone had been sitting here, there was a trunk in the luggage compartment, and an owl sitting in a cage, who seems to have nodded off, along with a pet carrier on one of the seats. But the compartment's occupant was nowhere to be seen.
Now as he was wondering if he should wait for the occupant to come back, or keep looking for a different seat, he was startled by a tinny voice.
“Hey you! You hafta help me!”
Ron jumped and looked around, trying to work out where that came from.
“Over here! Hurry up! She’ll be back any minute!”
With confusion, he realised that the voice was coming from the pet carrier on the chair.
Cautiously, he approached, to be confronted with a small black rabbit with brilliant green eyes, staring out through the bars.
With its tiny paws, it rattled the bars desperately. “Oh, thank god you're here! You gotta get me out of here!”
Ron blinked at the slightly surreal sight, and wondered aloud. “A talking rabbit?”
“No! You gotta believe me, I’m not a rabbit! I’m a student just like you! I’ve been cursed by that freaky little girl in the hood thing. I-I think she wants me as a pet! You gotta get me out of here before she comes back, I have friends and family!”
“What?” Ron said, confused. “You’re joking… right?” He said, wondering if this was some sort of prank.
“No! I’m serious! You have to release me!!” The Rabbit pleaded, rattling the bars some more. “I don’t wanna be some weirdos pet, grass tastes awful and raw carrots aren’t what they want you to believe! Please, I'm begging you! You have to believe me!!”
Now, Ron was still sceptical, having two siblings like Fred and George will do that to a guy. But still, the desperation, combined with an actual talking rabbit, made him wonder, just for a moment, what if something was going on, and this rabbit really was in some kind of trouble?
Looking down at the tiny watery eyes, made him sigh, and said, “Alright, I’ll take you to my brother Percy, he’ll know what to do.”
“Oh thank you thank you thank you!” the Rabbit cried jubilantly.
He considered taking the whole carrier, but it was quite large and looked heavy, so instead he bent over and opened the latch at the front.
Instantly the door shot open, pushing his hands clean away, and before he could react the rabbit was on the floor, and out the still open door, shouting. “MUHAHAHA, I’M FREE!! SO LONG SUCKER!!!”
Ron blinked, taking a moment to process what just happened, before his ears turned pink, realising he had just been tricked by a rabbit of all things.
Why didn’t he see this coming? He’s his entire life full of pranks to prepare him for this moment!
He quickly got to his feet, and considered if he should just walk away rather than having to explain to whoever owned the talking rabbit why he had let it run away. Fate decided to take the option out of his hands when someone entered the compartment, cutting off his potential escape.
It was a short girl in a knee-length pretty pink dress, with simple slip on shoes and ankle length white socks. Her eyes were hidden by a pair of large round sunglasses, and wore some sort of hood or bonnet on her head.
“Oh Hello, did you want to sit here too? She asked pleasantly.
“Err…” Ron dimly began wondering how to explain himself.
The girl then noticed the open cage behind him, and she gasped, horrified. “Oh no! You didn’t let her out did you!?”
“Er… well you see…” Ron started, still struggling to find the words.
“Oh dear oh dear OH DEAR!” the girl started fretting. “And I was supposed to be watching her too!”
She then grasped Ron’s arm and started looking up to him pleadingly “You have to help me catch her again, it's of vital importance that we get her back into her cage!”
Ron, turning even redder, mumbled. “Umm, well I’m sorry about your pet, b-but I don’t think-”
“No, you don’t understand!” The girl interrupted him while shaking her head, her tone becoming even further desperate. “That bunny is a wicked sorceress that my mother captured, and turned into a rabbit for safe transportation. I was supposed to give it to Dumbledore when we got to Hogwarts! If we don’t get her back into her cage before the train reaches Hogwarts, who knows what she’ll do once she escapes!”
Now, once again, Ron is not a fool, despite how foolish he might be feeling after the rabbit, and that incident combined with the girls outlandish story, made him sceptical once more.
He glanced at the very ordinary looking pet carrier, and back at the girl.
As if sensing his disbelief the girl quickly said. “Anyway, you have to help me look, come on!”
She pulled him out into the corridor, and pointed down the train. “You go that direction, I’ll search up the train, she’ll have to be somewhere, even she isn’t crazy enough to jump off a moving train. Meet back here if we don’t find anything.”
She then hurries off before Ron has a chance to say anything.
Now Ron honestly was convinced that the girl was making stuff up to make him feel bad for releasing her pet, and to pressure him into helping her find it. He considered just ignoring the weird girl and her out there story, but the lingering guilt of releasing the rabbit, that one way or another belonged to the girl, along with his resentment against the rabbit for tricking him, compelled him to at least make an effort to find it.
Although as he trudged down the train, looking into any open compartment doors and keeping his gaze down low, he couldn’t help but wonder what kind of girl keeps a talking lying rabbit as a pet.
Eventually as he moved down the train, half-heartedly asking anyone in the corridor if they had seen a rabbit, he eventually stumbled into his twin elder brothers Fred and George.
“Oh hey there, still looking for a seat?” Fred asked jovially.
“Err, no.” Ron replied, already dreading continuing but knowing he has to, “Some girl had lost her pet Rabbit, I was helping her look.”
“Ohh, a girl, he says.” George cooed at him. “Look at our Ronnikins being all chivalrous, and helping a young lady find a lost pet.~”
“It must have been love at first sight, George.” Fred followed his twin’s lead. “Our brother taking his first steps to becoming a man, helping a lady in distress, couldn’t be more proud!”
Ron went red. “Knock it off! I just… may have accidentally let it out of its cage.” he mumbled the last part. “So I’m helping her look.”
However, it seemed that Fred and George were now looking behind him. “Say, this rabbit wouldn’t happen to be black would it?”
Ron instantly turned around, to see the small rabbit creeping behind him.
The Rabbit froze as Ron stared down at it, but bolted as Ron tried to pounce on it, running underneath him, and between the twins, who ended up butting heads by accident, as they tried to follow it with their gaze.
Doubling back the way it came, around the slightly disoriented Weasleys’, it cackled. “Haha! You’ll never catch me!” before disappearing into the next carriage.
Fred, clutching his head, asked. “Did that Rabbit just talk?”
Ron grumbled as he stood himself back up again. “Yeah, it talks.”
“I wonder if it's one of those magical rabbits?” George pondered aloud, stroking his chin.
Ron looked at him as if he were thick. “It's obviously a magical rabbit.”
Fred shook his head. “No, no, young Ronald. Not a rabbit which is magical, but a magical rabbit.”
“They show up from time to time.” George clarified. “These special intelligent rabbits, that can even sometimes turn into people. They call themselves the ‘Inba’ or ‘Inaba’, or something like that, and they live to cause problems and stir up mischief.”
“Rodents after my own heart.” Fred spoke dramatically, touching his hand to his chest, reverently.
“Ah-ah-ah Fred. Lagomorphs.” George corrected, waggling his finger. “Wrong order.”
“Good catch George.” Fred commented seriously. “Don’t want to be accused of small mammal racism.”
Ron, however, has tuned out his brother's ramblings, as a tiny sliver of doubt creeped in, maybe there was something to this rabbit being evil, what if it was one of those magical rabbits who cause problems all over?
Then the door to the next carriage opened again, and Ron was once again met with the girl, the rabbit’s… owner? Jailer? Ron still wasn’t entirely sure.
However, he did wonder why she was here. “I thought you were searching the other way?”
“Someone said they saw the rabbit go this direction.” the girl explained. “Have you seen anything?”
Ron raised his eyebrow, “It just ran through that door. Didn’t you see it?” After a pause, he added defensively. “I was just about to go after it.”
The girl started to fret again. “Oh no! Did she slip past me somehow? his is bad! We have to catch her before she can cause any more problems! What if she sneaks into the engine?! After her!”
And with that, the girl about faces and runs back through the door and out of sight.
“What was that about?” Fred asked, eyebrow raised.
“She keeps saying that the rabbit is evil.” Ron answered, still not entirely convinced. “And it's very important that it gets caught before the train stops.”
Then, feeling self-conscious of his brothers’ stares, he adds. “I don’t believe it, I think she’s just having me on, to get back at me for letting it out or something.”
“Now now Ronald.” Fred’s voice was chiding, although his face retained a mischievous glint in his eye. “It is hardly courteous to accuse a young lady of lying like that.”
“This is obviously very serious.” George added, “Clearly that rabbit must be stopped, we’ll help you look.”
Ron gave them an incredulous look, but they bustled past him. “Come now, we best not tarry, we must capture this beast most foul.” Fred stated with as much of a Heroic tone as he could muster.
Ron sighed, embarrassed that his brothers had decided to involve themselves, but comforted himself by thinking that at least having four pairs of hands is better than two, and hurried after them.
As they stepped through to the next carriage, they were greeted by the rabbit peering out of an open compartment door, looking up the train. Obviously having once again evaded the seemingly clueless girl once more… Maybe it’s just three pair of hands at this point.
Realising she had been spotted, the rabbit then shot away up the train.
“After it, lads!” Fred exclaimed jovially, breaking into a run, alongside George, with Ron scrambling behind them.
They ran further and further up the train, not letting the rabbit out of sight, past groups of people, who all stopped and stared at the fleeing bunny and the pursuing Weasleys.
Eventually they were nearly stopped by a miffed looking Percey. “What are you three-”
“Excuse me.”
“Coming through.”
“Sorry Perce.”
However rather than stop, they all curved around him, unwilling to let the rabbit escape.
Percey looked dumbfounded, before rounding in annoyance. “Get back here! I am a prefect now!”
“We know!” they all called over their shoulders, before disappearing into the next carriage.
Eventually the Rabbit was forced to skid to a halt, as a gaggle of girls had blocked up the corridor, preventing it from entering the next carriage.
It darted its head this way and that, as Fred and George crouched low, standing shoulder to shoulder so it couldn’t get past them, and started slowly advancing, while Ron went ahead to apply pressure. Despite often being at odds, the brothers knew how to work together when the situation called for it, and they’ve wrangled enough Hens, and tossed enough Gnomes to know how to corner a small animal.
But before they could completely pin the Rabbit against the rather confused group of girls, it spotted an open compartment door, and darted inside.
“Haha, it's cornered itself! We’ve got it now!” Fred cried, and the Weasleys rushed in.
Inside the compartment, The Rabbit was on the floor, between a confused looking first year girl and a fourth year Ravenclaw girl, who had apparently stopped their conversation to look down at the small fluffy intruder.
“Stop right there, criminal scum!” George declared while pointing a finger at the rabbit, “We have you surrounded!”
“The jig is up!” Fred added with a dramatic finger of his own. “Either come quietly or we will have to use force!”
Ron looked embarrassed as the compartment's occupants gave them confused looks.
The Rabbit however squeaked: “You’ll never take me alive, Copper!” startling the two girls.
“Don’t be a fool, Jonny! It's not worth throwing your life away!” Fred exclaimed dramatically.
“Who’s Jonny?” Ron mumbled under his breath, giving his brothers a weird look, and wondering if this is when he should walk away.
“I ain’t going back behind bars!” The rabbit cried, standing on its hind paws to point dramatically (and cutely) at them with its tiny black paw. “Not when I have…”
It darted under the seat of the Ravenclaw girl, making her lift her feet in surprise, before re-emerging with a somewhat bemused looking toad held awkwardly in her paws.
“A hostage!” It declared emphatically.
The first year girl gasped.
“You fiend!” George said, in mock horror.
‘This is so stupid.’ Ron thought privately. Yep, this is when he should be walking away… However, he knows those two don’t know where the rabbit’s cage is.
Holding its non-threatening paw up to where the toads neck would be, if it had one, the black rabbit spoke. “One false move and the frog gets it. You too, girly.” that last one was directed at the first year who had started rummaging for her wand, stopping herself, and making Ron wonder why she was even entertaining the animal’s threats.
“You’ve gone too far now, let the amphibian go!” George demanded.
“Not until you meet my demands!” the Rabbit countered.
“Nooo! Don’t hurt Trevor!” A third voice cried, voice filled with horror, putting a halt to this farce.
Everyone turned to the door of the compartment, where a small round faced boy stood next to the curious gaggle of girls from the corridor, his expression bordering on tears.
“Please! He was a gift from my great Uncle Algie!” He pleaded, tears already forming on his face, “I… I…”
He started sobbing, in fear for his frog.
This led to a very awkward silence for a moment as everyone, including the rabbit Ron noted, shifted uncomfortably.
The rabbit, still holding Trevor, then marched awkwardly over on her hindlegs, around the Weasleys, and poked the boy on the leg to catch his attention.
“Hey, don’t cry, sorry if I scared you, I wasn’t actually gonna do anything to him, I was just… you know, having a bit of a jape, and got carried away.” The rabbit commented, looking as regretful as a rabbit could. It lifted the Toad over its head as high as it could. “See? He’s fine, you can have him back now.”
The sniffling boy took the somewhat disgruntled looking toad back with an arm. “Oh… alright… thanks.” He responded, somewhat sheepishly, probably embarrassed, and wiping the tears forming in his eyes with his free limb.
“There we go, chin up, there's a good lad.” the rabbit chuckled, patting his leg in what was probably supposed to be a comforting gesture.
As the rabbit watched the boy plod off, toad in hand, she was suddenly scooped up by Ron, and turned to face his unimpressed expression.
“Err… It's a Fair, cop?” the Rabbit offered.
‘So much for evil.’ Ron thought dryly.
As the Weasleys all marched out, prey in hand, the first year turned to the fourth year. “Is that normal around here?”
The Ravenclaw girl sighed. “Oh that's just the Weasleys, you’ll get used to them. But never mind that Hermione, we were talking about third year electives?”
Having returned to the girl’s compartment, the rabbit, being held under its arms, hindlegs dangling like a cat, tentatively said. “Alright, you can put me down now.”
“And have you run off again?” Ron asked, preferring to not do this whole ordeal again.
“I’m not gonna run, the toad boy already kinda took the wind out of my sails there a bit. Come on, be a sport. Otherwise you won’t like what happens next.~”
“Or I can just put you back in your cage, until your owner comes and explains what all that was about.” Ron replied sarcastically. Behind him Fred had closed the compartment door to prevent any more bolt attempts.
The rabbit made a spirited attempt to shrug. “Alright, don’t say I didn’t warn you.~ ”
And suddenly, instead of holding a baby rabbit, Ron found himself holding an eleven-year-old girl under the armpits at arm's length, before gravity reasserted itself, and he found himself falling on top of her instead.
She fell on her behind with an ‘oof’, and Ron landed face first in her stomach.
Fred and George blinked at this sudden development, before they both sniggered.
“My word, look at him, throwing himself into the lap of a lady. Our little Ronnikens is on his way to becoming a man!” Fred’s voice couldn’t be filled with more fake pride than it was now.
“It's almost enough to bring a tear to my eye.” George mimed wiping said tear from his cheek.
“Shut up, you prats.” Ron grumbled, his cheeks flushing red with embarrassment, hastily lifting himself off the girl, and looking up into the amused face of the rabbit's supposed owner.
And now he felt even more stupid than before.
“I did tell you to put me down.” she defended herself with nothing but the truth.
“It was you the whole time!?” Ron screeched indignantly, not caring about what nearby people might think for once, “Did you lock yourself in that cage just to prank me?”
“Yahuh.” the girl answered shamelessly, a huge smirk on her lips. “Well not you specifically, but you know, you were the first person to walk in, so…~”
But Ron had stopped listening, for now that he was this close to her face, he had spotted, from under the untidy fringe pinned down by her bonnet, was the barest hints… Of a scar.
He scrambled off as if electrified and pointed at her, mouth flapping. “No way… are you… you can’t…”
His brothers regarded him, confused at the sudden shift of demeanour, but Hailey Potter-Inaba, simply smirked, and brushed her bangs out of the way, revealing her scar, and lowered her glasses.
The twins' jaws dropped.
“Hailey Potter!” they exclaimed at the same time.
With a rocking motion, Hailey rolled onto her feet. “The One and only, although to be precise, It's Hailey Potter-Inaba!” She stated, pointing a finger at them dramatically, like a comic book Heroine would do in her introduction.
Ron blinked, something about the new surname reminded him about something his brothers had said earlier.
“And if you think that's wild, check this out.” Hailey, with a flourish, whipped the bonnet off her head, letting her ears spring up, before settling in their resting half lop.
There was a stunned silence as the Weasleys regarded the pair of very real rabbit ears sticking out of ‘the girl who lived’’s head.
“Now that…” Fred eventually started.
“Is a fantastic gag.” George finished, voice tinged with admiration.
Hailey bowed theatrically. “Thank you, you are too kind.”
Now, Ron simply didn’t know what to think... Would anyone judge him if he just banged his head against a wall and hopefully forget this ever happened?
It was not long after, and Hailey, once again with her bonnet on, was sitting opposite the Weasleys, as they banded together to grill her for information, which Hailey was all too happy to share, in recompense for the wild goose chase.
“So obvious first question.” Fred began in a surprisingly polite manner. “Are you really The Harry Potter.”
“So I’ve been told, Doc.” Hailey replied casually, pulling out a raw carrot and taking a bite out of it, “Hagrid told me I was the spit and image of my late mother, and my hair was reminiscent of my father. And of course there's…” she gestured to her forehead. “You know.”
“Alright, obvious second question.” George continued. “Why do you have rabbit ears, and why can you turn into a talking rabbit.”
“I was adopted by rabbits.” Hailey replied simply, taking another bite out of the carrot. “Comes with being an Inaba.”
“Anyone else in your family looking to adopt?” Fred asked facetiously. “Seems like a good deal if you ask me.”
Ron could, strangely enough, agree with his brother.
“Not that I’m aware of.” The rabbit girl answered promptly. “Plenty of them looking for bedmates though, especially twins, you’d be hot commodities.”
That managed to catch the Twins off guard, colouring their cheeks at the implications.
Ron then spoke. “I never heard about you becoming a rabbit. I thought you went off to live with Muggles?”
This got a frown out of Hailey, who grumbled. “Is everyone gonna ask me that?” before addressing Ron. “Old news I’m afraid. rabbits adopted me, much better off.”
“Even though it meant…” Ron sorta gestured to the top of her head, not sure how to phrase it.
“Hey, I asked for this.” Hailey clarified, tilting her head at being looked at with pity. “No reason to regret it either. Being a Rabbit Youkai is the tits!”
Ron coughed at the vulgarity.
“That does prompt a question.” Fred pondered. “I didn’t think non-humans were allowed wands. Let alone go to Hogwarts.”
“Is that why you’re in disguise?” George asked, eyes twinkling with mischief.
“Oh nah, I’m still two-thirds witch, well within precedent. Dumbledore already cleared it.” Hailey chuckled smugly. “The disguise is just so people can’t complain about it until I’m already there.”
“Fantastic.” George smiled with a chortle.
Hailey wasn’t finished and leaned in. “On that note, I technically don’t need to be in disguise anymore… buuut, I’d like you three to do me a solid and keep it on the down low until we get to school.” She grinned mischievously. “Would be a great gag if I waited for the sorting, right?”
Fred and George exchanged a glance at each other, before exchanging grins.
“Oh that is brilliant!”
“We won’t tell a soul~”
They both looked at Ron, who mumbled, “Y-Yeah sure…”
“With that in mind,” Fred began, standing up.
“We better not hang around.” George continued again, also standing.
“Can’t have us being here,”
“Spoil the joke, can we?”
“But before we leave.”
“We have one last question.”
“Shoot.” Hailey replied, munching happily on her carrot… Hold on, did she also lie about them not being good?
“Is it true what they say about Inaba rabbits?” Asked Fred.
“That they live to cause mischief and chaos?” Asked George.
“Well, that can depend on the rabbit in question… But yes, yes we do.” Hailey giggled with a titter. “We exist to cause problems on purpose.~”
“And that's all we needed to hear.” George grinned jovially.
“Hope to see you in Gryffindor.” Fred nodded, just as chipper.
They both then left the compartment.
There was a moment of silence, before Hailey stifled another yawn. “Well Ron, you got any more questions left? I think I have a few more in me before I take a nap.” As she said that, she placed her half-eaten carrot elsewhere… Huh? Where did she leave it? Where did she pull it from anyway?
“A nap?” Ron asked, wondering if it was some Inaba thing.
“I had a late night, and I just had a lot of exercise. I figured a nap would help pass the time.” The Rabbit stated with a much softer tone.“So any more questions?”
Ron thought about it. Honestly, had it been any other day, meeting the Hailey Potter would have had him burning with questions, about where she had been, about He-who-must-not-be-named, and just whatever else he thought about in the spot. But after the whole wild goose chase and the subsequent reveal, he couldn’t really summon the enthusiasm, especially when the girl looked ready to nod off.
So instead, he asked. “Why did you prank me like that?”
Hailey tilted her head again. “I thought I already told you. It wasn’t you specifically, you were just the first person to open the door.”
“Right.” Ron sigh, suddenly thinking that maybe a nap won’t do him bad either.
Feeling guilty, for a change of pace, the girl sat straight and looked at the boy in the eyes. “Sorry. In hindsight, it wasn’t really my best idea if I’m honest.” Hailey rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. “I had the idea at like two in the morning last night while hopped up on soda and pixie sticks, and it seemed like a really great idea until I realised how narrow this trains corridors are, but by then I was sorta committed to the bit.”
I just wanted to do something fun for my first ride to school… Sorry if I ruined yours.” She held out a hand. “No hard feelings?”
Ron looked at the hand befuddled for a moment, the apology catching him off guard. While he was used to pranks, he wasn’t used to being apologised to for them, at least not without parental intervention.
He was also surprised at the general earnestness from the girl across from her. While she clearly wasn’t racked with remorse, she clearly meant her apology, patiently waiting for Ron to take her hand. It felt a world apart from the Twins, and made Ron's slight sense of resentment dissipate.
“...No hard feelings.” Ron conceded, taking the hand.
After the shake, they withdrew their hands, and Hailey grinned. “You know, with all the kerfuffle, I don’t think we were properly introduced. I’m Hailey Potter-Inaba, but you already knew that.”
“Err, right, Ron Weasley.” Ron commented before blurting what was on his mind. “You know, I didn’t really expect you to apologise after all that.”
Hailey rubbed the back of her neck again. “Yeah, I’m a bit weird like that. I’m kinda into aftercare, after I have my fun, I try and make sure everybody leaves feeling good about things, and clean up any messes I may have caused. Not always successfully, not everyone's as good a sport as you, but I try, and Mama always said my conscientious nature is one of my charm points, So I’m trying out being a considerate prankster.” She then yawned again, and started to lay down across her seats. “Excuse me, really feeling like that nap now, wake me up if something fun happens, or we reach school.”
“Err, o-one more thing.” Ron stuttered quickly. “Why do you prank people if you are trying not to upset people?”
“I never said I didn’t want to upset people, pranks are pranks after all.” Mumbled Hailey as she got cozy, “I just don’t want any lingering feelings of resentment… and as for the pranks… well I am a rabbit, how else am I gonna scratch tha…”
She gave another yawn.
“...That Itch.” she finished.
It didn’t take long before she nodded off completely.
Ron looked down at the girl across from him, not really sure what to think, before he sighed, and started staring out the window. He had a feeling this year was going to be strange, especially if Hailey did end up in Gryffindor like the Twins said.
While he had been grumpy about the whole chase, he found it hard to hold it against the surprisingly genial girl.
That said, there was still enough resentment left that when the snack cart rolled around he almost considered not waking her up out of spite.
Almost. He wasn’t a monster after all.
Elsewhere on the train, Malfoy was confused, as nobody had apparently seen Hailey Potter.
This was a problem for him as his father had instructed him to seek her out, and probe her allegiances.
But after receiving no news on where she might be, he was forced to trudge back to his compartment.
He briefly did consider seeking out that annoying girl he met in Madam Malkins, but dismissed it, as if he couldn’t find the one famous Witch on the train, how would he have any hope of finding that so called ‘pop sensation’.
And even if he did, what was he supposed to do? Father would certainly not be happy with him getting into a fight on the train with a random, probably Muggleborn, girl. And he doesn’t think he could stand it if she actually did give him an autograph.